May 21, 2009 at 03:39 a.m.HTC Iolite review - part 2 - battery-powered
In the first part of the review , the design and the iron-mechanical components of the device were touched. Today I will touch on the software component and the communicator shell. I’ll touch upon usability issues and present you with battery life data.
I would like to start with the good. HTC pushed a large amount of RAM and ROM memory into Iolite, plus they set a stone at 528 MHz, which is undoubtedly felt when communicating with the device. The main reason for buying a new device was the lack of system resources of my HTC Touch, so this time I tried to pick up a communicator with the maximum filling ... I found Aiolit.
On Aiolite installed HTC's proprietary shell - "Manila 2D" (TouchFlo 3D). I won’t talk much about the shell; more than enough is written about Manila on the net . I can only say that it is very pleasant and multifunctional. It’s a little strange that it’s the first Manila, as the company already has in its arsenal the next version of the shell - “TouchFlo 3D 2”, which is used in HTC Touch HD (Blackstone). Considering the fact that Blackstone is six months earlier than Iolite, it is not entirely clear why the company refused to use its latest developments in the new device. Whatever it was, Manila 2D works great and is very responsive to user action. Everything just flies! No delays or slowdowns. Finally, you can understand what the Taiwanese wanted to show us, starting with the advent of HTC Diamond.
Since we’ve started talking about the interface, it’s worth mentioning the Start menu, which is enlarged to control your fingers. The same goes for the task manager in the upper right corner. Finally, you can hit the tasks with your finger and close them there, right from the box. I did not surprise the owners of HTC Diamond, Touch Pro and Co., they also went by default with them. But all others will be useful to know.
But I personally do not like the “launcher” of programs (it is too poor) and there is not enough file manager optimized for fingers. I understand that for such purposes there is Resco Explorer and SPB Plus, but since HTC has already taken on the mission of optimizing WM for people, so why not make such a necessary detail in the household. Nevertheless, today among all devices on WM, HTC clearly outperforms its competitors due to the TouchFLO 3D shell.
The only difference between Aiolitian Manila from previous versions is the presence of an additional tab - “Footprints” .
As conceived by HTC, “Footprints” was supposed to be some kind of calling card of this model, optimized for navigation and travel. If anyone does not know, the middle name is Iolita HTC Touch Cruise 2009 or Touch Cruise II. In fact, the function is completely useless and stupid. Photos taken in this mode have a minimum resolution and are nowhere to go. In addition, geo-tags are stored only on the communicator itself, and as soon as you transfer photos to the BB, all geo-data is lost.
Moreover, the “Footprints” function seems useless in light of the fact that there is a “GPS-photo” mode in the camera, which puts the coordinates into the photo file.
I can not help but mention Opera Mobile 9.5, which is built into the shell - it's just a song! If it barely moved on the HTC Touch and still gave me a lot of pleasure, now I understand how it should really work. And why the owner of iPhones write boiling water from his browser.
In the process of surfing on full-fledged Internet sites, a double touch not only increases the selected area, but also optimizes the text for the size of the device’s window. See examples below. Importantly, even such a heavyweight for mobile surfing as Habr has risen. )) In general, it is a pleasure! Slowly weaning from the “mobile view” mode.
For fine tuning of the program shell, I recommend Manila 2D Customizer and Advanced Configuration Tool(for the second thanks go comrade flaresun ). With their help, you can do almost anything. Starting from the removal of unnecessary tabs in Manila, and ending with the drop-down menus in the Command Manager.
Although the battery supplied with Iolite is small (1100 mAh), it lasts for a fairly long period. The device carefully consumes battery power. One charge lasts me an average of 2 days of use. It goes without saying that if you don’t completely detach from the communicator and run everything you can on it, then the battery will not last a day. After an hour of listening to online radio broadcasts via Wi-Fi, the battery heats up a bit. However, in comparison with the stove into which HTC Touch turned after half an hour of work with Wi-Fi turned on, it cannot be compared. Noticeable changes for the better.
In the above pictures, under the concept of “Device was used” , usually quite active use was included. Either surfing the Internet, or installing programs with subsequent reboots and testing.
And now some statistics on battery consumption:
• 15% of the battery in 2 hours of using the device with Wi-Fi turned on.
• 15% of the battery in 1 hour of telephone conversation
• 25% of the battery in 2 hours of listening to music with headphones + 1 hour of listening through the hardware speaker
• 7% of the battery in half an hour of GPS navigation through iGo in “overview mode”
The auto-adjustment function will also be mentioned in place screen backlight, which I turned off 2 days after use. Maybe I have excessive requirements, but it’s convenient for me when the screen is highlighted quite brightly.
PS I look, the text turned out to be a bit much. I will leave a part of it for later, so as not to overload the reader. All in all, be the third part! ))
PPSAs a conclusion to the second part of the review, I would like to conclude that I am satisfied with the battery! A software shell too ... With the advent of Aiolit, I refused a lot of auxiliary software, which I used for years. The device is still happy with the device, although the disadvantages mentioned in the first part of the review are sometimes still missing. Thanks for attention! To be continued.
PPPS To all those who tried to convince me, in the first part that there is a big difference between the concepts of “smartphone” and “communicator” I went to a meeting. Although, as such, I hardly see a difference. ))
Links to other parts of the review: part 1 , part 3
I would like to start with the good. HTC pushed a large amount of RAM and ROM memory into Iolite, plus they set a stone at 528 MHz, which is undoubtedly felt when communicating with the device. The main reason for buying a new device was the lack of system resources of my HTC Touch, so this time I tried to pick up a communicator with the maximum filling ... I found Aiolit.
On the face is beautiful, kind inside ... Manila 2D
On Aiolite installed HTC's proprietary shell - "Manila 2D" (TouchFlo 3D). I won’t talk much about the shell; more than enough is written about Manila on the net . I can only say that it is very pleasant and multifunctional. It’s a little strange that it’s the first Manila, as the company already has in its arsenal the next version of the shell - “TouchFlo 3D 2”, which is used in HTC Touch HD (Blackstone). Considering the fact that Blackstone is six months earlier than Iolite, it is not entirely clear why the company refused to use its latest developments in the new device. Whatever it was, Manila 2D works great and is very responsive to user action. Everything just flies! No delays or slowdowns. Finally, you can understand what the Taiwanese wanted to show us, starting with the advent of HTC Diamond.
Since we’ve started talking about the interface, it’s worth mentioning the Start menu, which is enlarged to control your fingers. The same goes for the task manager in the upper right corner. Finally, you can hit the tasks with your finger and close them there, right from the box. I did not surprise the owners of HTC Diamond, Touch Pro and Co., they also went by default with them. But all others will be useful to know.
But I personally do not like the “launcher” of programs (it is too poor) and there is not enough file manager optimized for fingers. I understand that for such purposes there is Resco Explorer and SPB Plus, but since HTC has already taken on the mission of optimizing WM for people, so why not make such a necessary detail in the household. Nevertheless, today among all devices on WM, HTC clearly outperforms its competitors due to the TouchFLO 3D shell.
The only difference between Aiolitian Manila from previous versions is the presence of an additional tab - “Footprints” .
As conceived by HTC, “Footprints” was supposed to be some kind of calling card of this model, optimized for navigation and travel. If anyone does not know, the middle name is Iolita HTC Touch Cruise 2009 or Touch Cruise II. In fact, the function is completely useless and stupid. Photos taken in this mode have a minimum resolution and are nowhere to go. In addition, geo-tags are stored only on the communicator itself, and as soon as you transfer photos to the BB, all geo-data is lost.
Moreover, the “Footprints” function seems useless in light of the fact that there is a “GPS-photo” mode in the camera, which puts the coordinates into the photo file.
I can not help but mention Opera Mobile 9.5, which is built into the shell - it's just a song! If it barely moved on the HTC Touch and still gave me a lot of pleasure, now I understand how it should really work. And why the owner of iPhones write boiling water from his browser.
In the process of surfing on full-fledged Internet sites, a double touch not only increases the selected area, but also optimizes the text for the size of the device’s window. See examples below. Importantly, even such a heavyweight for mobile surfing as Habr has risen. )) In general, it is a pleasure! Slowly weaning from the “mobile view” mode.
For fine tuning of the program shell, I recommend Manila 2D Customizer and Advanced Configuration Tool(for the second thanks go comrade flaresun ). With their help, you can do almost anything. Starting from the removal of unnecessary tabs in Manila, and ending with the drop-down menus in the Command Manager.
And the love of our village has a battery ...
Although the battery supplied with Iolite is small (1100 mAh), it lasts for a fairly long period. The device carefully consumes battery power. One charge lasts me an average of 2 days of use. It goes without saying that if you don’t completely detach from the communicator and run everything you can on it, then the battery will not last a day. After an hour of listening to online radio broadcasts via Wi-Fi, the battery heats up a bit. However, in comparison with the stove into which HTC Touch turned after half an hour of work with Wi-Fi turned on, it cannot be compared. Noticeable changes for the better.
In the above pictures, under the concept of “Device was used” , usually quite active use was included. Either surfing the Internet, or installing programs with subsequent reboots and testing.
And now some statistics on battery consumption:
• 15% of the battery in 2 hours of using the device with Wi-Fi turned on.
• 15% of the battery in 1 hour of telephone conversation
• 25% of the battery in 2 hours of listening to music with headphones + 1 hour of listening through the hardware speaker
• 7% of the battery in half an hour of GPS navigation through iGo in “overview mode”
The auto-adjustment function will also be mentioned in place screen backlight, which I turned off 2 days after use. Maybe I have excessive requirements, but it’s convenient for me when the screen is highlighted quite brightly.
PS I look, the text turned out to be a bit much. I will leave a part of it for later, so as not to overload the reader. All in all, be the third part! ))
PPSAs a conclusion to the second part of the review, I would like to conclude that I am satisfied with the battery! A software shell too ... With the advent of Aiolit, I refused a lot of auxiliary software, which I used for years. The device is still happy with the device, although the disadvantages mentioned in the first part of the review are sometimes still missing. Thanks for attention! To be continued.
PPPS To all those who tried to convince me, in the first part that there is a big difference between the concepts of “smartphone” and “communicator” I went to a meeting. Although, as such, I hardly see a difference. ))
Links to other parts of the review: part 1 , part 3